Great reply! It wasn’t until I started working on fear and the mental aspect that I really saw significant improvement in my stutter. My therapist used to say “pretend you’re reading aloud in a room and someone is hiding behind the couch. If they suddenly popped out would you automatically start to stutter”. That’s one I still think about years after therapy. Fear can be seen as giving something power over you. In the prior scenario I am giving that person who popped out from behind the couch the power to make me stutter. Well, what gives them the right to have that power. The power is mine. I think for most stutterers it isn’t the speech that bothers them the most, it’s the fear, anxiety, and embarrassment that comes along with stuttering that hurts the most. Many speech therapists don’t understand that. Once you learn to let go of the fear, better speech will follow and you won’t notice or dwell on your mistakes like you did before. At least that’s how it was for me. I still stutter occasionally but I rarely think about it and that’s what matters the most to me. I also want to echo the importance of intentional stuttering. Seriously, try it. It’s empowering. As stutterers we don’t feel like we have control over our speech. This gives you control and feels great. It allows you to take that power back.